Manchester United endured a disastrous start to this season when they lost their opening two games under Erik ten Hag against Brighton and Brentford.
The second of those games, that horrible trip to Brentford, sent shockwaves through the Premier League and it sparked a reaction from United.
Ten Hag’s men went on to win their next four games in the league, including comprehensive wins against Liverpool and Arsenal.
Speaking ahead of this Sunday’s game against Fulham, Christian Eriksen has explained how that defeat against Brentford helped transform their season, arguing it was a ‘wake-up call’.
“It has gone well [the season] in general, of course it was a tough start,” Eriksen told Sky Sports, via the Manchester Evening News.
“I think if we would have lost 2-1 [against Brentford] it would have been different, it would be a crisis but a different vibe. When we lost 4-0 it was like ‘okay this is a wake-up call’, we need to go back to basics and that’s basically what we did.
“From training, that’s really when things started to change slowly and really, I think we got to know that it’s painful to lose.
“We don’t want to do that anymore and trust that whatever the manager wants us to do on the pitch, trying to believe in his stuff and then luckily the points started picking up.”
Eriksen has started all but two games for United this season and has been one of the main reasons the Reds have been able to improve under Ten Hag.
SN’s verdict…
After an encouraging pre-season, spirits were high going into this season and the back-to-back defeats in August really took the air out of that optimism.
When it was time to play Liverpool in the third game of the season, supporters were fearing the worst. Fortunately, Ten Hag made a series of big calls and made sure everyone pulled in the same direction.
United have the chance to end their half-season on a high later this weekend when they face Fulham. Victory over the London side could fire them into the top four for the five-week World Cup break.